So said new county GOP Chairman Don Clarey, who added he was already soliciting pledges on Whalen's behalf and plotting out a campaign strategy modeled on the one that propelled Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown to victory in Massachusetts.

Then everything went to hell.

A day later we reported, on Saturday, after interviewing with the Albany County Independence Party, Whalen dispatched an email to Clarey and then, soon after, to the news media announcing she would not be running for anything this year.

Clarey, clearly put off both by her decision and the way he found out, reiterated that Whalen told him she was in and testily observed that she "obviously didn't have the temperament to run a campaign of this magnitude."

Whalen, for her part, declined to push back at Clarey -- though she did dispute his assertion that she ever committed to running in the race.

"I think it was a case of him speaking too soon," Whalen told Insider. "As a candidate, I do control my own message."

Whalen said her decision was not the result of her interview with the Independence Party -- which she said went well -- but it's undeniable that the landscape is challenging for any GOP candidate.

While the Independence Party has yet to say whom it will endorse, it certainly seemed to be leaning toward McCoy, who has Chairman Paul Caputo's personal seal of approval.

As of Thursday, McCoy was the only candidate in the race who interviewed for the party's endorsement.

Caputo declined to reveal whether Whalen said she was definitely in the race when she interviewed.

"I don't like to really discuss what happens in the interview," Caputo said. "Jennifer's right, it was a very positive interview. We talked a lot about her past political experiences."

Just a year removed from her nearly successful run for Assembly, Whalen said not wanting to subject her family to a second consecutive summer of campaigning weighed heavily on her decision not to run.

It's also possible that Whalen left the interview with the realization that she might have to wage a campaign on just the Republican line, a heavy lift when pitted against the former head of the county's Democratic Party who would have at least three ballot lines and a better than 2-1 Democrat to Republican enrollment advantage.

And if that wasn't messy enough -- on Thursday morning (as is reported elsewhere in these pages) Colonie Republican Nathan Lebron announced that he intends to challenge McCoy, with or without the support of the county GOP.

For the time being, it seems like it will be without.

Clarey said he likes and respects Lebron but is still looking for candidates.

Lebron, an IT consultant who ran for mayor of Albany in 2009, moved to Colonie at the end of 2010.

One of the hurdles may be the money needed to run a competitive race. Some Republican insiders have put the figure between $300,000 and $400,000.

Lebron spent just $7,359 on the mayoral race and finished a distant third with seven percent of the vote.

Soares eyes a third term

With a fundraiser scheduled for June 9, Albany County District Attorney David Soares confirmed this week that he will run for a third term next year.

"I'm not done with my work," Soares told the Times Union's editorial board. Among his accomplishments, Soares listed boosting communication among the county's police departments and prosecutors and helping create a law-enforcement culture based more on cooperation than territoriality. About he fundraiser, Soares said:

"I'm doing all of the things that I need to do this year so that I can continue doing my job as the DA next year."

Inside Politics is a companion to the Local Politics blog -- http://blogs.timesunion.com/localpolitics -- and compiled by Jordan Carleo-Evangelist. Reach the Insider via email at jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com, on the phone at 454-5445 or on Twitter @JCEvangelist_TU.